This is a pictorial account of an on-going project to build an historic fishing boat the traditional way. Lion, at 40 feet and approximately 22 tons, is typical of small fishing schooners found in New England waters around 1800.
Each page includes photo galleries arranged in sequence showing the construction process. Most photos are captioned with a short description. The website consists of a page for each stage of construction, as listed in the main menu.
The timing of the project to date has been about like this:
– 1990’s – Shop construction
– Early 2000’s – Gathering plans, wood and other materials
– 2010-11 – Lofting and first wood cut
– 2012-14 – Keel laying, stem, sternpost and deadwood construction
– 2015-17 – Frame construction and setup
– 2017-21 – Planking (about half complete)
– 2022-Present – Deck structure
The JPG link below is a Gantt chart showing the tasks yet to be completed as of April 2024 (click on it to enlarge). The timeline is pessimistic. Hopefully, it can be shortened up with a little help. I will update it as progress is made.
Journalist Michael Hill of NJTV (the local PBS TV Station) produced and aired the following video in 2017. It provides a good summary of the project at that time. As this website documents, progress has been slow since, but still moving along.
. See the Deck page for the most current work.
Comments on either the website or the boat will be greatly appreciated. You can contact me (Mike Danesi) at mnldanesi@gmail.com.